Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi said in his Easter sermon on Sunday that Lebanon is in need for the end of the paralysis in its public life and institutions, including the cabinet.

“Lebanon is in need to rise from the obstruction to its constitutional institutions, mainly the formation of the cabinet, and be up to par with the current internal, regional and international challenges,” al-Rahi said in Bkirki.

Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Beirut Elias Awdeh slammed politicians on Sunday for seeking shares in the new cabinet rather than thinking about the people’s interests.

In his Easter sermon at the St. George Cathedral in downtown Beirut, Awdeh said: “Rather than forming a strong government that saves Lebanon, we are incapable of forming the cabinet because each team is … asking for shares and not for salvation for citizens.”

Army sappers defused at dawn Sunday explosives placed under the vehicle of a General Security Department inspector near the museum area in Beirut, the National News Agency reported.

NNA said that two hand grenades and a small gas canister with nails and stones inside were placed under the BMW of the inspector, who was only identified by his initials as R.M.

Lebanon First MP Oqab Saqr denied reports about his arrest in Syria but confirmed to pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat that there was “information” about a Syrian arrest warrant against him for his alleged involvement in anti-regime protests.

Saqr denied his interference in Syria’s internal affairs and urged Syrian authorities to “end the bloodbath rather than being distracted by fabrications that harm the Syrian state, authorities and institutions.”

The cabinet is not likely to be formed anytime soon, sources told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat after Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun insisted on naming the neutral personality who would lead the interior ministry.

The sources told al-Hayat in remarks published Sunday that both Aoun and President Michel Suleiman, who are at loggerheads over the portfolio, had agreed on giving the ministry to a neutral personality.

President Michel Suleiman denied on Sunday that there were foreign obstacles to the cabinet formation process, saying the deadlock was over local “demands.”

“There are no foreign pitfalls,” Suleiman told reporters in Bkirki after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi. The impasse lies on the “demands of parliamentary blocs” and “not obstacles,” he said.

Tawheed movement leader Wiam Wahhab revealed on Saturday photos of checks addressed to Mustaqbal MP Jamal al-Jarrah signed by Saudi Prince Turki bin Abdul Aziz, a member of the Saudi royal family.

The check, worth $300,000, was issued in Cairo, he told NBN television.

The head of the Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Mohammed Raad described on Friday the construction violations on public property as “shameful”, saying no one can protect any side that had carried out such illegal activity.

He added: “The current chaos cannot be justified or defended … AMAL and Hizbullah have not provided political cover to the violations.”

A security official revealed to As Safir newspaper on Saturday that the public property construction violations exceed 4,000 plots throughout southern Lebanon, adding that they are far too numerous for the security forces and army to handle.

The newspaper added that the security forces will suffice with recording violations instead of thwarting them.

Hizb ut-Tahrir’s media official, Ahmed Qasas accused Lebanese authorities of intimidation practices “that have turned Tripoli into a military barracks.”

He told the pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published on Saturday: “They sought such tactics in order to deter the people from taking part in the demonstration that the party called for on Friday in support of the Syrian protests.”